Four male elephants loiter around sugarcane farm in Erode, damage over 2 acres of crops

CHENNAI: Four male elephants went on a rampage inside a sugarcane farm on Monday in Erode's Thalavadi and destroyed over 2 acres of crops, according to a Daily Thanthi report.

Mallu, 50, a farmer who lives in Ramapuram village in Thalavadi, arrived at his farm early on Monday morning when he found a group of elephants eating, and destroying his crops. Mallu immediately informed the forest officials.

A team of forest personnel led by ranger Sathish Nirmal promptly arrived at the scene and initiated their standard protocol to drive the elephants back into the jungle. But as the farm spanned over three acres of land, the officials were unable to get a clear view of the elephants' movements.

"Hence, we decided to step up our game and immediately brought in a drone to track their movements. We found four fully grown male elephants walking around the farm," the ranger said.

The elephants were found to have wandered into the farm from a jungle area located three kms further into the Karnataka border.

After a struggle of 12 hours, the forest officials were finally able to send them back into the jungle.

The situation briefly got out of control when members of the public who heard about the elephants, queued up to catch a glimpse of them. The officials quickly brought the crowd under control and requested them to disperse and allow them to do their job efficiently.

However, as the elephants had destroyed over 2 acres of sugarcane crops, Mallu requested the government for compensation.

Notably, incidents of wild elephants finding their way into towns and destroying fields have become a regular occurrence in Erode district.